Monthly Archives: May 2008

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The move of rookie Chilo Rachal from guard to tackle was probably done out of necessity more than anything else. The 49ers have one tackle who has missed half his starts the last two years in Jonas Jennings. If Jennings goes down again, then the 49ers have to take Adam Snyder from left guard, where […] More »

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On Ezra Butler: For those who missed it, a promising rookie free-agent linebacker, Ezra Butler, was released by the team Tuesday after his arrest for a DUI and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. At least one NFL scout believes Butler is a second-round talent, but the rest of the league obviously doesn’t agree or he would […] More »

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Humble, soft-spoken and loaded with promise, 49ers free-agent linebacker Ezra Butler would be the last person one would expect to be caught in a 2008 Hummer on suspicion of DUI with a marijuana in the car at 11:30 at night in Reno. But that’s what happened on Saturday night. On Tuesday, the 49ers released him. […] More »

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Mention the names Steve and Brent some 15 years ago to 49ers’ fans and no last names were needed. Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young and former Pro Bowl tight end Brent Jones kept the 49ers’ legendary offense thrumming through the playoff years and during San Francisco’s last Super Bowl-winning season in 1994. The former […] More »

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Sidewinder asked how quick defensive lineman Ron Fields’s hands are compared to Isaac Sopoaga’s. Fields’s are faster, hence his move to nose tackle. Fields is undersized for the nose, but if he’s active and plays with leverage, he could be effective. As Mike Nolan noted in the past, Sopoaga might not have the dirty-job mentality […] More »

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Defensive line coach Jim Tomsula put a camera at the line of scrimmage during the last minicamp to better assess his players. The camera allows Tomsula to see who has the best jump and the quickest hands. A sprinters jump allows a pass rusher to get up field and into the back field in a […] More »

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Eddie DeBartolo might be back and not to buy back the 49ers, but to possibly purchase the St. Louis Rams. That’s according to Mike Silver of Yahoo Sports. One would think that would be a nightmare for 49ers co-owner John York, who would probably try to block the move. But one league source said that […] More »

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Offensive coordinator Mike Martz’s presentation last weekend focused on two of his high school coaches in a seminar with high school and college coaches. One was an ambitious coach looking for the next job, who didn’t really care for the kids and didn’t know too much about football. He taught his players to lead with […] More »

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Sorry for the scant posts of late. I had a large project due unrelated to the blog and had done three shifts of weekend work lately. Also, I was scheduled to appear on 49ersparadise.com and 49erswebzone.com for a web chat Wednesday night. That’s been re-scheduled for next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. As far as the […] More »

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The San Francisco 49ers conducted the first ever coaching clinic sponsored by Mike Nolan, the coaching staff and the team. Nolan and defensive line coach Jim Tomsula were behind the effort to invite high school and college coaches for a night and a morning of networking and instruction. Nolan also allowed me to attend. I […] More »

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I messed up the coding on the defensive lineups, which I just fixed (9:30 p.m.). Thanks for the positive comments. I’ve said this before, I really enjoy the blog and the discussions. That’s enough of the mutual admiration. Tomorrow we’ll get back to, and stay with, 49ers football. More »

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The 49ers released rookie free-agent Lance Brandenburgh and they announced their training camp will start July 24, with the first exhibition with the Raiders scheduled for Friday, Aug. 8 in Oakland at 7 p.m. The rest of the exhibition schedule is Saturday Aug. 16 against Green Bay, 6 p.m., Thursday Aug. 21 at Chicago at […] More »

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In answering a few questions on yesterday’s blog, John Crumpacker is the full-time beat writer for the 49ers and he was there for all five 49ers’ practices. I saw two of the five and got reports about the others. From what I saw, Shaun Hill didn’t look nearly as sharp as Alex Smith, and from […] More »

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-Wide receiver Arnaz Battle returned to practice after mysteriously rolling his ankle the night before minicamp on Thursday night. Others who are limited because of age or injury are DE Melvin Oliver (missed last year after injuring his knee in training camp), CB Tarrell Brown (sprained MCL in season finale), RT Jonas Jennings (ankle surgery […] More »

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News and notes from the first day of the 49ers’ mandatory minicamp: -First-round pick Kentwan Balmer will start off as the team’s right defensive end. Coach Mike Nolan said he wants to start the rookie off there and then move him to nose guard. Nolan said the techniques for all three defensive line positions are […] More »

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He’s grumpy and combative; and not at all averse to a blue tirade, which he has been warned about. He’s Unca_Chuck and he’s the proud winner of the 49ers Insider’s first, and hopefully not last, contest. Of the 120 entries, our guy Unca was the only one to have Kentwan Balmer as the 49ers first […] More »